The Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes collaborates with more than 80 countries to ensure growth opportunities from trade and investment, to improve development prospects, and to enable their more effective participation in the global economy. The Division provides timely, targeted research and analysis, as well as innovative policy recommendations regarding development, trade and investment.

Through its analysis of African economic issues, UNCTAD aims to increase awareness of some of the most critical development problems of the continent, and to promote action at national, regional and international levels to support African development efforts with a view to enhancing the participation of African countries in the world economy.

News

The results of three national assessments on women’s entrepreneurship development (WED) in East Africa conducted using a new framework developed by ILO and UNCTAD, through its Division on Technology and Logistics, found that ICTs are increasingly important for women entrepreneurs. Thanks to the rapid spread of mobile telephony and improved international broadband connectivity, there are now more opportunities to leverage such technologies in support of entrepreneurship.​

Governments that want to pursue a path to a green economy must develop a green growth vision, formulate enabling policies, and develop a strategy to promote green investment opportunities, said participants at an UNCTAD regional workshop in Durban, South Africa.

The Least Developed Countries Report 2013, subtitled "Growth with Employment for Inclusive and Sustainable Development", was released today. It urges that there should be greater policy emphasis in LDCs on employment generation as a central development objective. It cautions that otherwise, international migration or social and political instability may rise.

UNCTAD organized an Expert Group meeting, in Geneva, for the Least Developed Countries (LDC) to discuss the progress made on the items covered by the LDC Package (TN/C/W/63) namely, duty-free and quota-free market access, Preferential rules of origin, the Services Waiver and the "Cotton issue".